Successful North Sea Methanol Monitoring Trial

LUX Assure, a company specialising in the development of chemical monitoring technologies for the oil and gas industry, has launched its first product to market following a number of successful field trials with North Sea oil majors.

The Aberdeen-based firm is forecasting £100,000 of sales in 2012, with an expected accessible global market of over £1million per year.

OMMICA is a detection kit designed for use on or offshore to determine the concentration of methanol or monoethylene glycol (MEG) in oil or water. Operators in Africa, Australia and Europe have already adopted OMMICA and sales to North America and Brazil are anticipated in early 2012.

The presence of methanol and MEG can cause serious issues during the processing of hydrocarbons and can lead to discounted pricing. Traditionally, the chemicals are monitored by more complex methods which are not convenient when working offshore. OMMICA™ offers a much simpler approach.

Ms Emma Perfect, managing director, LUX Assure, said: “This is a major milestone for the company. OMMICA™ is the first of the company’s products to be launched since we became focused on the oil and gas industry in 2010. We are extremely excited by the positive response OMMICA has generated so far from the oil and gas sector. Commercialisation work on our other technologies is continuing and we intend to launch our next product (CoMic™) for the large corrosion monitoring market soon.”

OMMICA was initially funded and trialled by a North Sea Operator who required a quick and simple offshore method to monitor methanol and MEG in oil - OMMICA™ was the result. Development was also supported by a SMART:SCOTLAND grant from the Scottish Government.

LUX Assure, who employ 6 staff, received funding from Archangel Informal Investment Ltd and the Scottish Enterprise Co-Investment Fund in 2011. With key appointments made last year from the oil and gas sector to support growth, the firm is focused on developing further products which offer novel and exciting chemical monitoring solutions to the oil and gas sector. Originally established as a technology house conducting research and development for a variety of industries, LUX Assure has enjoyed significant success through working with a number of major oil companies and is now streamlined to focus solely on delivering solutions to the oil and gas industry. LUX Assure specialises in developing robust, highly sensitive and simple to use technologies for applications in production, processing, transportation and storage.